Manufacturing tools, adapters, building blocks, and/or other useful objects can involve an additive manufacturing process. Many additive manufacturing processes involve forming multiple layers of materials on top of one another. For example, some additive manufacturing processes include forming multiple layers of light-sensitive materials, where each layer or portion of the layer is formed into a pattern and exposed to a light to cure or solidify the layer and/or pattern before additional layers are formed. Some additive manufacturing processes involve forming multiple layers of a liquid, where each layer is formed by dispensing the liquid into a pattern and exposing the liquid/pattern to an ultraviolet laser to cure and solidify the exposed liquid and/or join the layer to prior layers beneath it. Other additive manufacturing processes may be formed using heat and ambient temperatures to soften and/or cure materials to form the layers and/or patterns. Layer by layer, such additive manufacturing processes may be used to build objects with various shapes, forms, and/or sub-structures, which may range in complexity from a simple mechanical screw or washer to an entire automobile.
In general, various types of additive manufacturing processes, possibly including a combination of computer design and robotics, may be used to build multi-dimensional objects. Some conventional additive manufacturing processes may produce objects having structural anomalies associated with the type of additive manufacturing process or material used to form the objects. Conventional attempts to reduce such structural anomalies (e.g., by using different materials requiring relatively extreme curing temperatures and/or exposures, or by requiring higher precision robotic actuators) may be relatively expensive and/or complex. Thus, there is a need for improved additive manufacturing processes, systems, and designs, for example, in the area of 3D printing.